Île d'Yeu

Île d'Yeu (French pronunciation: [il djø]) or L'Île-d'Yeu, is an island and commune just off the Vendée coast of western France. The island's two harbours, Port-Joinville in the north and Port de la Meule to the south, in a rocky inlet of the southern granite coast, are famous for tuna and lobster fishing, respectively. Administratively, the commune of L'Île-d'Yeu is part of the Vendée department and the Pays de la Loire region of France. History Neolithic markings in the native stone and an unusual concentration of megalithic dolmens and menhirs attest to the island's early sanctity. Irish monks from Bangor, County Down, dedicated their monastery on the Île d'Yeu to Hilaire; Saint Amand from Poitou received early training there, but it was destroyed by Viking raiders in the ninth century. During the tenth century, monks from Marmoutier near Tours and monks of Saint-Cyprien at Poitiers built a new monastery and dedicated it to Saint Stephen. A wooden stockade was built by the lords of Belleville to protect their maritime commerce in the area from pirates but this was eventually demolished and a stone castle built by Jeanne de Belleville and improved by her husband Olivier IV de Clisson. The castle built on an islet linked to the coast by a bridge is first mentioned in 1356. Since the nineteenth century Île d'Yeu has attracted many artists. Jean Rigaud (1912–1999), official painter to the French Navy, had a house there, as did Maurice Boitel (1919–2007). Jean Dufy (1888–1964) made about twenty paintings of l'Ile d'Yeu during several summer stays between 1926 and 1930. The death sentence for treason of Philippe Pétain, the proclaimed hero of Verdun during World War I who later became the leader of France's wartime collaborationist Vichy régime, was immediately commuted to life imprisonment on Île d'Yeu. He died in a private home in Port-Joinville in 1951, and is buried in the local cemetery (Cimetière communal de Port-Joinville). The poet Marc-Adolphe Guégan, an early French exponent of haiku, lived on the island until his death in 1959. The island's seaweeds have been the subject of studies by the French marine biologist Françoise Ardré. The children's author Ludwig Bemelmans, who summered on the island, took inspiration from a hospital stay after a bicycle crash for his first Madeline book, published in 1939. Launched in 2020, Harmon'Yeu is France’s first two-year smart microgrid pilot, connecting 23 houses in Ker Pissot. The system integrates 23.7 kW of solar panels, a 15 kWh battery and six thermal water heaters. Population Transport The island is reached by ferry from Fromentine or Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie. Air transportation is available at Île d'Yeu Aerodrome (IATA: IDY, ICAO: LFEY), with commercial service from Nantes Airport. Climate Île d'Yeu has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb) with mild weather year-round and significantly more precipitation in winter than in summer. Gallery See also Vieux-château de l'Île d'Yeu Communes of the Vendée department Theft of Philippe Pétain's coffin References Further reading Bemelmans, Ludwig (1985). The Isle of God (or Madelines's Origin) Tell Them It Was Wonderful: Selected Writings by Ludwig Bemelmans. Marciano. External links Official site for the tourism office and commune of the Ile d'Yeu (in French) La Gazette de L'île d'Yeu